


Hilda - Episode 10 (The Storm) ...In Story Version!

by Sivvah



Category: Hilda (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-18 19:24:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16523183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sivvah/pseuds/Sivvah
Summary: In this written version of chapter 10 of the Netflix series "Hilda", Hilda is determined to solve a mystery involving her favorite scientist and radio weather reporter, Victoria Van Gale, who is somehow connected to the gigantic storm hitting Trolberg and keeping her Mum from getting home safely. She teams up with David and the Great Raven to go see for themselves what's happening at Van Gale's weather station.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Hilda or any of the characters in this story! The original comic creator is Luke Pearson, and the animated adaptation belongs to Netflix. This is a sort of... fanfiction, or translation, of one episode that I've turned into a novel-style story. It's really a lot of fun, and quite a challenge, too. I got creative with it, but made sure to keep the essence of the original episode.
> 
> I will definitely do other episodes in the future, but for now I've chosen The Storm because I thought it had a nice, simple plot flow, and Victoria Van Gale is an interesting character to me. (Although Alfur is my favorite and I was kinda sad that he wasn't in this one at all! I'll have to choose one with him next time!)
> 
> Enjoy! :D

A depressing, dark, gray mass was cast over the expanse of the city, a cruel wall in the sky that wanted to block out all sun and warmth. The mountains looked unusually distant and gloomy, and the lake’s surface had no shimmer. Out in the middle of the water, a lone fishing boat sat still. The air looked heavy with undoubtedly oncoming rain. Hilda shifted her gaze to stare blankly at the empty streets and shadowy, concrete buildings.

With some soft footsteps, Johanna approached, carrying a laundry basket in her arms.

“You up to anything today?” she asked cheerily, picking up Hilda’s winter cap that had been lying on the sofa. 

“Not today,” Hilda answered.

“You haven’t been out with Frida and David for a while,” her mum mentioned, glancing at her daughter with concern as she continued to collect a dirty sock and toss it in the basket. “Is everything okay?”

Hilda thought for a second, and managed a smile. “Yeah,” she said, but the lie just made her heart sink even more. “Everything’s fine,” she muttered, and hoped her mum would leave her alone. She knew she was only being caring, but this was her first time having a real friendship problem, and she wasn’t ready to talk about it. From the corner of her eye, she watched Johanna leave reluctantly.

Hilda sighed and slid off the window sill while Twig remained curled up on it, fast asleep. She made her way over to the radio on the dining table and listened to a few seconds of each station before switching to the next one. She stopped at the sound of her favorite voice—Victoria Van Gale’s. Surely, Victoria would be the one to lift her spirits with some news about good weather on its way. Hilda listened.

“ _ Victoria Van Gale of the Greater Trolberg Meteorological Bureau, and things are looking gloomy out there. You can expect sorrowful winds throughout the day, maybe even the odd ominous rumble— _ ” On cue, the deep, rolling sound of thunder echoed through the sky, and Twig awoke with a startled whimper— “ _ But the worst of conditions will be reserved for the early hours. _ ”

Satisfied with what she’d heard, Hilda turned the radio off. She leaned down to stroke Twig, who was trembling as he approached her.

“Don’t worry, Twig,” she comforted. “This should clear up soon. Victoria Van Gale is  _ never  _ wrong.”

 

But hours later, the morning long over, conditions had only gotten worse. Now, there were vicious winds and crackling thunder with occasional bursts of lightning. It was only a constant reminder of that terrible argument with Frida that just wouldn’t get out of Hilda’s mind. She didn’t even feel like eating her favorite sandwich that sat untouched on the table.

“I’m going to drive over to the art store today to pick up some supplies,” Mum announced from where she stood doing the dishes. “Do you want to join me?”

“No,” Hilda sighed. “I  _ was _ going to go to the library today to see if I could find a copy of this book that Frida’s lost, but looking at the weather, I think I’m going to give the whole leaving-the-house thing a miss today.” She looked at her cucumber sandwich.

Mum chuckled. “Who would have thought it? My Hilda, put off by a little spot of rain.” She chuckled to herself again as she walked off to prepare to leave despite the pouring rain and merciless wind.

It was true; Hilda normally didn’t mind the weather no matter what it was like. After all, the wilderness was her friend. But after recent events, today just wasn’t her day.

Mum had left, and Hilda, still bored out of her mind, headed to the telly and switched it on. But instead of seeing a clear, playing screen, it was flashing with gray static. “Huh. Must be the storm,” she said before turning it back off. Back to the radio to see if the storm would let up any time soon.

“ _This Victoria Van Gale,_ ” reported her usual smooth and cheery voice. “ _The weather today? Not exactly the best. With any luck, the area of high pressure should start to see the storm shift away from the city. Hopefully. Maybe. Uh, in the meantime, expect nothing but continuous rain throughout— Er, scratch that. Looks like we’ve got some . . ._ ”

“Snow!” Hilda exclaimed in surprise as she looked out the window. Soft white flakes drifted down from the clouds and were already starting to pile up on the ground. “Come on, Twig! Let’s go make a snow troll!” Maybe today wouldn’t be a waste after all. Hilda loved playing in the snow.

Hilda ran to her bedroom, Twig close behind, and pulled her winter gear out of her drawer—hat, scarf, gloves, jacket, snow boots. She was about to put on her gloves when she heard a tapping sound at her window behind her. 

She turned to see a familiar black bird standing just outside the glass, shivering. Raven? Curious, she headed over to slide the window open, but as soon as she’d opened it, the force of the wind launched the bird into her room along with a whole lot of snow and cold air. Hilda struggled to close it again immediately.

“What are you doing here?” She asked Raven, who was upside-down in the pile of snow that was now in her room. 

The bird shook ice off his feathers and rushed over to her bed where he then wrapped himself up in blankets. “Have you seen what it’s like out there?” he exclaimed.

She kneeled next to him. “Yeah, but why are you  _ here _ ?” Hilda hadn’t expected to see the thunderbird for a long while, if ever. She’d assumed he would forget all about her after the Bird Festival was over.

“I know it’s hard to believe,” Raven started, “but I don’t actually know that many people with central heating.” 

True, they were apparently uncommon in Trolberg. Hilda was still surprised, but perhaps it was a sign of friendship that he’d come to her house of all places. After all, it was she who’d saved him from Trevor and helped him remember that he was the Great Raven.

“Okay, make yourself at home,” Hilda said. “But  _ I’m  _ going out there!” She said excitedly, and hopped off the bed and headed for the door. “The snow’s settling already, and I want to be the first person to make a—”

The phone rang. She scowled and picked it up.  _ This better be quick _ . “Hello?”

“ _ Hilda? It’s Mum. Listen, I think I’m gonna be a while; the road’s blocked off with snow and no one’s getting anywhere in a hurry . . . Are you okay? _ ”

“I’m fine,” Hilda replied. “I was just about to—” 

“ _ Listen,  _ don’t  _ go outside, okay? Stay in and stay warm. It’s nuts out here! _ ”

“But Mum, I—”

“ _ I probably won’t be home to make anything, so help yourself to some leftover pie in the fridge if you get hungry, yeah? Alright, I better go. Bye! _ ” The call hung up. It seemed the blizzard was indeed getting bad; Mum didn’t hear a thing Hilda said. Anyway, Hilda couldn’t ignore what her mother told her. With a disappointed sigh, she pulled off her snow hat and Twig looked up at her sadly. 

“Sorry, boy.”

The deerfox was startled by another crackle of thunder in the sky. Wait . . . “again”? The thunderstorm was over a while ago . . . Or, at least, it should have been over. It was snowing now. Hilda had never seen thunder and snow at the same time. She headed out to the living room for a better window view of the sky.

Raven was on the sofa, and had apparently gotten himself a small slice of leftover pie. 

“Is there normally thunder when it snows?” Hilda asked him, staring up at the dark gray clouds mixed with the swirling snow. Scientifically, it didn’t make much sense.

“If you ask me, it’s the weather spirits,” Raven answered. He chomped on a mouthful of pumpkin pie.

“No way,” said Hilda, furrowing her brows. “Victoria Van Gale would have said something about that by now.” 

“I’m just sayin’, it has all the hallmarks.” He took another bite. “Though, this does seem bad. Even for them.”

Hilda considered it, staring at the sky in thought. Why wouldn’t Victoria Van Gale mention anything about something like weather spirits? “Well, let’s see,” she said, and went over to the radio.

She tuned into the station, but was having trouble hearing clearly. She raised the antennae higher until Victoria’s voice faded in.

“ _ My sincerest apologies to the three or four people who actually tune into this frequency! We are currently experiencing some, uh, technical difficulties. _ ” There was an unpleasant static and crashing sound. “ _ Everything’s— _ ” Her voice was breaking up— “ _ fine! _ ” And it ended there, leaving nothing but a low, humming audio.

“Weird,” Hilda remarked. “I check this broadcast  _ every day _ , and I’ve never heard anything like this. Something bad’s happened!” Thunder and lighting boomed again as the snow rushed down faster.

Raven was getting a cup of cocoa now. “She said everything’s fine,” he argued, “and I, for one, believe her.” 

“Oh, come on,” Hilda said.”You heard it just as well as I did. Victoria Van Gale is in trouble!” she insisted. “In danger, even!”

“But—” he sipped from his cup— “the  _ storm?”  _ her reminded her, knowing she would want to immediately set out on a rescue mission and use him as transport.

“Yes, the  _ storm _ !” Hilda pointed out. “And it’s getting worse!” She added, “and if it is weather spirits causing this, she’s the one person who would know what to do.” Determined, she marched toward the door.

“But . . . my cocoa,” Raven whimpered in despair.

“Your cocoa can wait!” Hilda went back to grab him, forcing him to leave the cocoa behind. “We have to go to the Trolberg weather station!”


	2. Chapter 2

Luckily, David was free that day. After Hilda had gone to retrieve him, the three of them stood in her bedroom. 

“But . . . just me?” David asked. “You’re not going to ask Frida to come, too?”

“I don’t think she’s going to be up for this one,” Hilda replied briskly, gathering jackets and winter gear once again. Now wasn’t the time to talk about Frida. 

“. . .Okay, I’d be glad to come,” David decided as he accepted a coat from Hilda. “Where is the weather station, anyway?”

 

Icy wind slapped Hilda’s face as she clutched tight onto Raven’s large, black feathers. They were up in the middle of the storm, surrounded by lightning and dark clouds. Even the thunderbird was struggling to fly in the powerful gusts of air.

“I’m already beginning to regret this!” David cried, holding on from behind to Hilda for dear life. 

There was a sudden eruption of loud, rumbling noises surrounding them all mixed together that reverberated through the clouds, slightly resembling voices. 

“What’s that?” Hilda shouted over the noise.

“That’s an argument,” shouted back Raven.

“Between who?” asked Hilda, despite the obvious answer.

“Weather spirits,” he said, and swooped downward where they finally emerged from the loud storm, leaving behind the city in its turmoil and soaring over calm, still grassland. Up ahead, sitting atop its isolated mountain, was the weather station.

With a heavy flutter, Raven landed on the ground beside the building and Hila slid off to land with a soft crunch of her boots in the snow. “We made it!” she exclaimed, gazing up at the station. “The Trolberg weather station. We’re here!” She was thrilled to be there in person for the first time and ran to get a closer look.

David was still holding onto Raven’s back in fear, eyes squeezed shut, not even realizing they had stopped flying, and even after the bird transformed into his smaller, discreet form, the boy wasn’t letting go. “Uh . . . Hilda?” Raven called, though Hilda was busy marveling at the structure ahead.

“This is amazing!” she exclaimed as she stepped up a hill of snow that was piled up against the wall of the building. “Look at all this stuff!”

David and Raven caught up behind her. “It’s no wonder she’s good at predicting the weather!” the raven remarked. It was a technologically sophisticated assemblage of a variety of weather-observing contraptions attached to the two-story building.

Hilda headed up the snow-blanketed stairs and twisted the doorknob, but the door was locked. “We’ve got to get inside and find out what’s going on,” she told David, who was blowing into his mittens in an attempt to warm up his hands. “I hope she’s okay,” Hilda said to herself. She looked up, and noticed a small window to the left. She hopped off the staircase and, using a conveniently placed wooden crate as a step, lifted herself up and cleared condensation from the glass. Peering inside, she couldn’t see much, so she slid the window open and climbed inside quietly. Her friends followed her.

The room was dark and dusty. It was filled with clutter—old tools, broken light bulbs, abandoned weather devices, scattered papers. Hilda made her way through the room.

“Whoa,” was all David said as he looked inside.

“Oh, boy, something really did happen in here,” commented Raven, observing the mess. He hopped inside and helped David climb through.

“I think I liked it better out in the cold,” David whined, peering around the dark room.

Hilda walked past a shelf of supplies. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

“It’s like no one’s touched this stuff in years,” added David, swiping dust off an old radio with his finger. 

“Victoria!” Hilda called, going up the staircase in the corner of the room. “Victoria Van Gale!”

Raven, who still wasn’t as eager about the adventure as the other two, looked half-heartedly under a table. “Victoria?” He looked back at the kids and shrugged his wings. “Oh well! She’s not here. We should probably go now.” 

That definitely didn’t convince Hilda, who was up the stairs now, running across a catwalk loaded with boxes. “Victoria Van Gale!” she shouted. “Where are you?” It was like a worrisome game of hide-and-seek.

Meanwhile, David had walked into a spider web and gotten spooked. He shouted in fright and tripped over a barrel.

“I’m okay!” he said sheepishly as Hilda approached, getting up and leaning cooly against a wall. Unknowingly, he had rested his hand on a red button. A large, automatic door slid open. 

Hilda and David, followed by a curious Raven, looked inside and gasped softly. Inside the bright, shiny room was a woman looking through a telescope.

“Wow,” Hilda breathed. Natural light shone through the windows, illuminating the room full of levers, gears, wires, pipes, machines, thermometers, everything. That, for sure, at the telescope, was Victoria Van Gale, in her white lab coat and aging frizzy grey hair. She hadn’t yet noticed them come in.

“Victoria Van Gale?” Hilda said as she approached.

The woman turned around with a yelp of surprise. She looked down at Hilda with wide eyes. “Who the devil are you?”

“I’m Hilda. It’s so great to meet you!” She couldn’t help smiling in delight. “I’m your biggest—Well, I bet everyone says that they’re your biggest fan, but I’m a pretty big one,” she blurted, nervous to be in front of her for the very first time.

“What on earth were you doing in the garage?” Victoria inquired. She narrowed her eyes and added, “What did you see?” and then chuckled nervously before correcting, “I mean, what are you doing here?” 

“We thought you might be in trouble!” Hilda explained. “We heard your broadcast. I listen to it all the time, you see.” 

“Oh, you mean you’re  _ visitors _ !” Victoria said, delighted. 

“Well . . . Yes,  suppose we are!” Hilda agreed, looking back at David and Raven.

“Well, don’t worry about that broadcast nonsense,” Victoria began, spreading her arms to gesture around the room. “As you can see, everything’s fine here. Quite fine.” She chuckled and clapped her hands together. “Good gracious, isn’t this a wonderful surprise? I haven’t had a tour group up here in quite some time—Oh, that reminds me, don’t go anywhere!” She danced away to the other side of the room and began rummaging through a box, muttering to herself.

David leaned in next to Hilda as they watched her. “I think something funny’s going on,” he whispered.

“I also think something funny’s going on,” Raven agreed suspiciously.

“What are you talking about? She’s just pleased to see us,” Hilda argued. 

“Alright!” said Victoria, striding toward them with a box of things. The weather station logo, a cloud and lightning bolt, was printed on the front of the box. “Here are your visitor’s stickers, and . . .” she reached into the box, “your complimentary Greater Trolberg Meteorological Bureau keyrings!” She held one up for them to see, and they had the logo on them as well. “And, uh,” she continued, moving to set down the box next to Hilda and David, “help yourself to a giant pencil.” She took one out and waved it around. “Strictly speaking,” she whispered with a mischievous smile, “they’re not free; they’re on the house.”

Hilda smiled.

“Come!” Victoria exclaimed, suddenly jumping up. “I must give you the grand tour!” She hopped over to a wall full of levers and pulled a particular one up to turn the machine on. “This is a solarometer. That records the sunlight, of course.”

The machine began buzzing and emitting sparks of electricity. Victoria frowned and elbowed it hard, which seemed to fix the problem. She smiled at Hilda.

“Cool,” Hilda marveled. Victoria led her to another part of the room next to the windows.

“This monitor here is showing barometric pressure readings, from 

**shit i gotta finish this later lmao oops. will be updated soon, i just couldnt find a good place to end it as a chapter**


End file.
